Welcome to Business English Pod, a great way to improve your English skills on the go.
In this two-part series, we'll be looking at the vocabulary used when traveling by air and proper and polite forms of making and answering requests.
In this episode, our traveler Robert is arriving at the airport to fly from Sydney Australia, to Nice, France.
But he must first fly to Paris and then fly from Paris to Nice.
As you listen, pay attention to the phrases used for polite requests.
Next in line, please.
Checking in, sir.
And what's your destination today, sir?
Nice, France.
Connecting through Paris.
Is departure still at 11.45?
Yes, indeed.
Everything's on time today.
Can I have your ticket and passport, please?
And are you checking any baggage?
Yes, just one suitcase.
But could you tell me what the International Baggage Allowance is?
I think I might be over the limit.
35 kilos.
Could you please place your suitcase on the scale, Mr Strauss?
Okay.
That's just under 34 kilos, so you'll be fine.
That's a relief.
And I see you have one carry-on bag.
Here's a list of items that are prohibited in your carry-on baggage.
Please be sure to check before you go through the security point.
Sure.
Could you tell me if the flight is very busy?
It's almost full but you'll have no problem boarding.
Your reservation is confirmed.
Now, do you have a seating preference, window or aisle?
Well, I'd like an aisle seat near the front if possible so I can get off quickly in Paris.
My connection is quite tight and I want to get through immigration and customs as quickly as possible.
I see, but I don't think it will matter.
Your luggage is checked through in Nice, but you'll still have to take it through customs in Paris yourself.
So being first in line at immigration probably won't save you any time.
Well, I'll try it anyway.
So, I'd be grateful if you could put me in an aisle seat close to the exit.
We certainly can.
OK, sir, you are in aisle seat 10C on flight 405, departing from gate 9 at 11.45.
Here's your passport and boarding pass.
And the gate is over to your left.
Thanks very much.
Have a nice trip, sir.
Well, that went quite smoothly, didn't it?
Things don't always go this well at airports, and in another podcast we'll look at how to discuss travel problems.
But today let's look at some of the vocabulary we use when traveling by air and how to make polite requests.
The ticket agent announces Next in line.
Please to tell the person waiting at the front of the line or queue to come to her counter.
She then asks, Checking in, sir?
To check in means to register your presence for a flight, a hotel or even an event such as a conference.
Here are some examples of how we can use check in.
Notice how check in can be used as both a verb and a noun phrase.
Hi, I'd like to check in for the Paris flight.
Check-in for international flights is in Terminal 4.
I need to check-in at the hotel before the meeting.
After check-in, please go to Passport Control.
The ticket agent asks our traveller Robert, And what's your destination today, sir?
A destination is the place where the traveller wants to go, which for Robert is Nice in France.
The place where you leave from is called your point of departure.
So we go to a destination and leave from our point of departure.
For example, I'm going to Paris next week.
We will go to Sydney on Tuesday.
I left from Frankfurt at 6 p.m. but didn't get to Munich till 10.
We also call the area in an airport where you wait to get on a plane the departure lounge, and the area where you go to after getting off a plane, the arrival lounge.
Lounge is another word we use for room or a waiting room in this case.
It's very common when traveling by air, to have to go to another city first and then change planes before going on to your final destination.
This is called connecting.
To connect in this case means to change to another airplane in another city.
So, Robert is connecting in Paris and then taking another plane to Nice.
Connecting can also be used as an adjective, as in connecting flight.
Listen to some examples.
I have to connect in Hong Kong.
I have a connecting flight through Madrid.
We connect in Brussels and then fly on to Antwerp.
I missed my connecting flight in London, so I was late for the meeting.
Robert checks that the plane is departing at the proper time and our ticket agent confirms this by saying everything's on time, meaning yes, the plane will leave at the correct time.
Unfortunately, as we all know, not everything runs on time.
You could say the opposite of on time is late. but that's quite a negative word.
So we often say a plane or a train is delayed as it's more diplomatic.
After asking for Robert's travel documents, in this case his passport and ticket, the ticket agent next asks are you checking any baggage?
Here, checking is used in a slightly different way.
Our ticket agent is asking Robert if he wants the airline to take care of some of his bags so he doesn't have to carry them with him onto the plane.
This use of to check means to give something of yours to somebody else for them to handle or take care of.
For example, you check your coat at a restaurant, which means you give it to the restaurant staff so they can store it for you while you eat.
So we can say, Would you like to check your coat, sir?
Will you be checking any bags today, miss?
I was late arriving at the airport and didn't have time to check my bags.
And what is Robert checking?
His baggage, of course.
In American English we often use baggage to describe items such as suitcases, bags and boxes that we use to carry our clothes and belongings when we travel.
In British English it's more common to call these items luggage, but both words are clearly understood around the world.
Sometimes you might want to take some of your baggage onto the plane.
We use the term carry-on for this type of baggage because it's carried onto the plane.
Notice how the ticket agent also warns Robert to make sure there are no dangerous items in his carry-on bag by giving him a list of prohibited items.
Prohibited is a formal word for banned or not allowed.
It seems that Robert has rather a heavy case.
So he asked the ticket agent, but could you tell me what the international baggage allowance is?
I think I might be over the limit.
Your baggage allowance is the maximum weight of baggage you can take without paying any extra charges.
If your luggage weighs more than your baggage allowance, you are over the limit and you'll have to pay the excess baggage charge.
To check the weight of Robert's suitcase, The ticket agent asks him to place it on a scale.
A scale is the machine we use to measure the weight of something.
Notice that Robert and the ticket agent both use polite language structures to make their requests.
Instead of asking a direct question, such as, what is the baggage allowance?
Both speakers use could to make their requests more polite and indirect.
We'll take a closer look at how to make polite requests later in this podcast.
Before we move on, let's review the vocabulary by practicing a few example sentences.
We got a set of Louis Vuitton luggage for our wedding gift.
Samsonite makes very strong suitcases, but they can be a bit expensive.
Please place your carry-on bags in the overhead compartment.
The baggage allowance for this flight is 20 kilos.
I had to leave my makeup at the airport because it's prohibited in carry-on bags now.
After taking care of Robert's baggage, the ticket agent next asks...
Now, do you have a seating preference, window or aisle?
She's asking what type of seat he wants to sit in a seat next to a window or one next to an aisle, which is the walkway between seats?
Robert tells her that he wants to get an aisle seat close to the front of the aircraft so that he can get off the plane quickly.
He's worried about missing his connection or connecting flight, and says My connection is quite tight.
The expression tight means not much time.
So Robert is saying that there's not much time between the arrival of his first flight in Paris and his departure on the connecting flight to Nice.
The ticket agent finishes the check-in by summarizing the details of his flight by saying Okay, sir.
You are in aisle seat 10C on flight 405, departing from gate 9 at 1145.
Here's your passport and boarding pass.
A boarding pass is a special ticket that is printed when a traveler checks in and which allows them to board or get on the aircraft.
Now that we've talked about the vocabulary for air travel, Let's listen to and practice some of the phrases we use to make polite requests.
When making requests to people we've just met, we use polite phrases, or what we call indirect language.
Robert asks, But could you tell me what the International Baggage Allowance is?
And she answers, 35 kilos.
Could you please place your suitcase on the scale, Mr. Strauss?
Direct language would sound like this.
And she would say, This sounds rude, and it is.
So, how do we make a request polite or indirect?
Well, there are several simple techniques and words.
The most common technique is to use modal verbs such as could and would to replace direct verbs such as can or will.
Another useful word is mind, as in do you mind or would you mind.
We also use if to make our requests less direct.
So a direct request such as, can I open the window, becomes, do you mind if I open the window?
Or even more politely, would you mind if I opened the window?
Let's practice some polite requests using these techniques.
Could you tell me where I can get a taxi?
Do you think you could tell me why the flight is delayed?
Could you help me with my bags?
Would you mind helping me with my bags?
Another example of a polite request can be heard when Robert says I'd be grateful if you could put me in an aisle seat close to the exit.
He used the adjective grateful to make his request even more polite, as he's asking for a special favor in this case.
At one point in our dialogue, the ticket agent tells Robert, please be sure to check before you go through the security point.
As this is an instruction rather than a request, the language is more direct, but it's made polite with the addition of the phrase please be sure to before the instruction.
We use this phrase when we want to politely tell somebody that they must do something.
If we agree to a request, we can use a confirming phrase, such as, Okay, that sounds good.
Yes, that won't be a problem.
We certainly can.
Certainly, sir.
More informally, we can also say... No problem.
Yes, sure can.
Will do.
When refusing a request, it's especially important to be polite, since the refusal might not make the other person very happy.
We usually say, Followed by the reason.
Or we might say, Again, followed by a reason.
Both of these ways of refusing a request sound much better than just saying no.
And most importantly, they include a brief explanation of why the request is being refused.
This helps the listener accept the negative response because they now know why the request has been refused.
In the second part of this series, we'll take a closer look at how to deal with connecting flights and travel-related problems when Robert has some trouble connecting in Paris.
Thanks for listening, and see you next time.
